[M] Icy. Sidhe has a frozen heart. (Holey & Merry) IC

[Holeypaladin]

Friedrich had said nothing about the battle being located in the fae realm. Considering Niamh's noble background, however... there was a distinct possibility that she had never once left the fae realm in her long life, now that he thought about it. Well, there was a first time for everything. "I mean a real battle," he said, giving her a slight smile as he held her hands.

"Alright then..." he remarked. "Let's go see ourselves a battle." Calculating the exact location of the battlefield, he soon incanted in the Draconic language, "Sehlek, svih, karif mojka." At the conclusion of his incantation, he and Niamh were teleported far away from the fae realm, to a certain plain on the main continent. Formations of foot soldiers were aligned in rows by rank and file, wearing the uniform of the Imperial Army and carrying very unique looking tech weapons with swords fastened to them. Similar formations of cavalry held the flanks, while rows of larger tech weapons were aligned behind the infantry.

Upon his arrival, a high ranking military officer rapidly approached him on horseback. "Your Imperial Majesty," he said, "I was not expecting your arrival. Please forgive me... do we have new orders?"

"Nothing, general," said the Emperor. "I'm only here to show off to someone special to me. Carry on with the battle plan."

The general gave a salute and returned to his duties, while Friedrich directed his attention to the queen. "If you think this is impressive," he remarked, "You should look up." He pointed up into the sky, where several airships hovered, their broadsides lines with several decks of tech weapons similar to the field artillery located behind the infantry. "What do you think?" he asked her. "In my fifty years ruling over the Empire, I've accomplished an estimated two hundred fifty or so year improvement in weapons technology in preparation for this war."

[Merry]

She felt the slight tingling of his magic. It brushed along her skin like a soft caress. It wasn’t the same feeling as when they merged their magic during sex, it wasn’t that intense. His magic felt different from hers, but not in a bad way? His felt like that soft warmth when you passed through a sunbeam in a forest glade. A spot of warmth against your skin and then it’s gone again. Hers had the feeling of a cool crisp breeze that crops up unexpectedly when you’re sitting in the sunshine. A burst of coolness that brings your skin to a prickly state for a few moments then moves on. Probably why they were compatible so far, they were almost opposites.

She had been outside the Fae realm, but it had been hundreds of years since she had left her fairy kingdom. The world was the same, and very different at the same time. The clothing was the first thing she noticed. These men seemed to have a sort of armor on them, similar to Freidrich’s, but much more subdued. Which made sense, since he was, well who he was. It was lighter and allowed them much more movement than the metal body armor she recalled. Since most fae creatures were highly allergic to real metal, iron and the like she wasn't in any hurry to get any closer to the human officer. Real iron and metal, man made could be deadly to the lesser fae, and while it wouldn’t kill her? It would not be pleasant to her to have it touch her. Until it was determined what it was constructed of? She would keep a safe distance from any of the armored humans.

She was entertained by the officer’s sharp attention to Freidrich however, he almost seemed nervous to see the emperor appear in person. Perhaps Freidrich was a ruthless commander after all? His casual comment about her being someone special was also noted and brought a shy smile to her lips for the briefest moment, which she quickly masked away with her usual stoic court face. The face that betrayed no emotions one way or another, impervious to any outward emotion. Only her eyes betrayed her excitement at being here. They were gleaming and shining in the sunlight, darting from one interesting item to the next.

She looked up at his suggestion, and was struck with wonder at the massive airships hovering above them, thirty or forty feet above them. They gleamed and shone in the bright sunlight like some massive metal birds of prey. Waiting to pounce and destroy anything that moved within their range. She was very interested to see them move and what they could do. Right now they were just, there hovering in place, waiting.

“what is your battle plan?” she asked, her eyes still fixated on the large hovering crafts. “Where is your enemy?” she continued on, trying to understand how this new world worked. She wondered what he would share, how much. “What are those for?” she asked pointing the larger weapons on the ground behind the humans on the ground. “what do they do?” she asked in a voice tinged with excitement. The things he was showing her were so alien to her, but fascinating at the same time. She was a creature of battle after all, so this was similar to a Christmas morning to her. Full of wonderment and awe.

In battles among the fae it was usually all magic and hand to hand combat. If the magic was a match, swords and hand to hand was the norm. They had their own flying warriors, but they were actual creatures of her realm, not machines such as these. They were living, talking beings. Large carnivorous bird-like beings and night flyer individuals, dark and terrible. Similar to manta ray’s in the ocean, but scaled with tentacles and able to fly . There were others as well that the mere glimpse of for a human would break their mind and cause almost instantaneous insanity.

She waited breathlessly waiting for his replies to her questions, her eyes watching the battle preparations below them with great interest.

[Holeypaladin]

Friedrich held his gaze on the Unseelie queen, observing the brief reaction she had shown to being called special. He listened to her words, noting how even she couldn't hide her excitement at seeing such new and mysterious battle tactics to her. He realized that it had likely been centuries since she had been in the mortal world, so this was all brand new to her.

Stroking her hair, he held her closer. "Tech weapons," he said, nodding to the field artillery. "Those are the big ones. The food soldiers carry smaller tech weapons for short range combat. The battle tactics you are about to see are about two hundred fifty years more advanced than the rest of the world... when building the Empire, I relied on human innovation and their ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances... an elven or fae country could not advance as quickly as the Empire has."

Squeezing his arm around her waist, he directed the queen's attention towards the opposition, in the direction where the army's guns were trained. "The orc army will be coming from that direction," he said. "You'll see them appear from the tree line in about thirty seconds. The airships are mostly here to provide fire support against dragons, as we know the orcs have chromatic dragons as their own air support. Artillery will provide long range shelling, and once the orcs get close, the infantry will blast them at close range with their own tech weapons. Unfortunately, these weapons are far less accurate than bows and crossbows, yet far more powerful at close range. They can pierce the heaviest of orc armor, while their own missiles aren't very effective against modern Imperial armor."

He directed her attention towards the war wizards who were supporting the soldiers. "The Arcane University is located in the Imperial City," he remarked, "But as modern tech weapons are more powerful than most evocation spells, our war wizards use their magic as a force multiplier, enhancing the combat performance of our own weapons while weakening our enemy." He nodded to a particular wizard who was enchanting cannon shot with powerful explosive magic so that when the round impacted, it would be far more devastating than a simple ball of iron.

"The enemy," he said, directing her attention towards the tree line where the orcs were appearing in a far less orderly formation than his own troops. "It's going to get very loud, very quickly, so you might want to cover your ears." The deafening sounds of the artillery began to resound as they opened fire at the orcs, who were now charging at full speed in the direction of the Imperial army. The infantry raised their own weapons, but they were holding their fire until the enemy came closer, even as the orcs began to shoot their own missiles at the Imperial troops, only to have most of them be deflected by shielding magic or blown aside by wind magic, thanks to the war wizards.

[Merry]

Niamh was completely engrossed with his explanations and she listened keenly to everything he was telling her while outlining about the upcoming battle. She was thrumming with excitement to watch what was about to take place before them. It had been a long time since had been on a battlefield. This was quite the different scene than she had envisioned. She absently hugged him around his waist in return, her attention locked on the scene before them.

The Fae were forbidden, to a certain extent to fight openly within their races at least among the humans. The devastation could reach epic proportions in a matter of hours. Their magic was so powerful it could be catastrophic if left unchecked. It could destroy cities of people in a very short time. One of the last great wars of their history had been held on American soil and is now what is considered to be the grand canyon.

That didn’t mean they didn’t fight. It just meant they were much more subtle about it. Less magic and more indirect venues for destruction. Little squabbles among ranking houses, a few poisons here or there. It was all quite civilized. Full out, all scale war wasn’t something that was done. Or at least it hadn’t been for hundreds of years.

Her family bloodlines where linked to a number of conflict and warrior deities, being dark fae as she was. This was like Christmas morning to her. This was sheer battle bloodlust, with destruction and chaos at its finest. She could hardly contain herself. She could feel the magic they were using to enhance their battle effectiveness. It skimmed across her skin like a living crawling thing and she found herself taken to it, felt her magic wanted to join it and enhance their efforts as well. Either side, it wasn’t discriminating either way. She quickly pulled her magic back towards her, winding it tightly around her like a living cloak. This was not her battle, she chided herself, she was simply an invited guest. Here to witness the carnage.

Since the noise around them was deafening, she stood on tiptoe and brought her mouth towards his ear, leaning close. “Do you feel that?” she shouted in his direction. Curious to see if he could feel the magic that was being created by the combination of the magicians and the battle blood lust. It was a delicate undertone, pooling underneath them waiting to be tapped into. Something the human mages wouldn’t be able to recognize or feel with their limited skills. It was an earth magic, that only a creature of the Seelie or Unseelie would be able to feel, if they were paying attention. Being queen of the Unseelie, any type of earth magic was obvious to her. Almost as if there were a neon banner held over the field before them. “Magic Here” it flashed in bold letters.

She understood now what some of her people meant about being drawn to battlefields of old when the Fae were seen commonly among the humans. Having any bloodlines set in battle, or with war or lust deities would draw them to something such as this like a bee to honey. They wouldn’t be able to resist it. They could easily join it with their power and give themselves an amazing boost. Something akin to an electrical charge to whatever magic they already had, for a period of time. Once the battle was concluded it would no doubt fade away, as this was an elemental form of magic and could not be contained with the mixture of their own for very long. Only the combination of blood, anger, lust, frustration, death and triumph keyed with their own magic would make it work. It was a limited time offering and no doubt faded away when there was no one left to battle.

She found herself hugging him in her general excitement while she watched the deadly combat and then started to pull away. She wasn’t sure how it would be perceived by his troops and nearby generals to see her hanging on him like some decoration. She didn’t want to distract them from the battle at hand or cause him any undue distractions. Although by the looks of things, this was going to be a quick skirmish and Freidrich’s team was definitely in the winning category for this day.

[Holeypaladin]

Friedrich watched the queen's reaction as the first shots of the Imperial artillery resounded. Before long, he felt her beginning to cling to him during the resulting violence, and wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her closer. While most humans didn't have the raw magical strength of the fae, they tended to be extremely efficient killers due to a lifetime of hardship and toil. Combined with his own genius in advancing warfare with technology and arcane studies, the Imperial army was far more advanced than most any other mortal fighting force in the world, and it showed as the orc ranks were scattered by the impacts of magically-augmented shot.

Mortar fire rained down from above, fired primarily by the Imperial airships up above. While less effective than their broadside cannon, they could be arced to hit enemies at a wide variety of different ranges, unlike the broadside cannons which were designed to be used primarily against other airships or flying creatures such as dragons.

As the orcs came closer, the field cannons switched to a different kind of ammunition. Rather than solid round balls, they instead filled the barrels with canisters filled with smaller projectiles. He nodded as he heard the queen's voice in his ear, pulling her closer and speaking back into her own pointed ear. "This is just the beginning," he remarked.

It was clear this display of violence and carnage was causing quite a bit of a reaction in the queen. Yet in spite of the chaotic, violent nature of war, the ranks of the Imperial troops remained quite orderly, with cannon loading and firing. The shorter range canister shot that had been loaded into the artillery caused small projectiles to stroke large groups of orcs, focusing their fire on the orc archers who admittedly had a longer range than the Empire's own infantry. It served to shred their ranks to the point where they were unable to effectively fire at his footmen, who lacked shields but wore helmets and cuirasses for protection.

He felt the queen clinging to him only to pull away. Pulling her back to him, he squeezed her closer and spoke into her ear. "Don't worry about the humans," he said, "They're too busy fighting to pay much attention." His hands slid over her, squeezing her and holding her close, realizing the effect this battle was having on her body. "It makes you horny, does it?" he said, licking her ear and sucking on it tenderly. "I'll tend to you as much as you like, so feel free to rely on me for such things."

As the orcs charged the front ranks of the infantry, finally the handheld tech weapons of the foot soldiers fired off, dropping the orcs as they approached. Some of them came closer enough to actually engage the soldiers with their own crude swords and spears, but the trained soldiers of the Empire simply used the affixed sword bayonet on their weapons to fight them off at short range.

The orc war band soon routed and began to scatter to the winds, at which point the Imperial cavalry on the flanks finally went into action, chasing down and persuing the orc soldiers, overtaking them from behind with lance and carabine. These cavalry were light cavalry, unlike the heavy knights of most human kingdoms, as their purpose was not to serve as the vanguard, but as a flanking and pursuit force.

Squeezing and holding the queen close, Friedrich gave her a tender kiss. "It definitely seems like you've worked up quite the appetite," he remarked. "I suppose I'll need to tend to you immediately, won't I?"